


A Million Reasons

by AbbyO317



Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: Death, Dissapearances, F/F, F/M, Grief, Haha jk. Unless..., M/M, Male MC, Mysteries, Secrets, Shadows - Freeform, Supernatural Forces, The Story No One Knew They Needed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:53:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28600263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbyO317/pseuds/AbbyO317
Summary: Upon further inspection of this town, it’s not as pretty as it seems. We embark on the journey it takes to find out who or what is holding one of the town’s residents hostage… We’re seeing the events from our narrator’s point of view, panning over the story and dissecting every detail in the depths of the case of Blake Gilani...[ON HIATUS]
Relationships: Bobby McKenzie/Original Character(s), Priya/Main Character (Love Island)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter One: Sealight Avenue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first take on a proper dark dark fic, so, please be nice 🥺🖤

Sealight Avenue. 

From the outside, this town seems ordinary, but once you dive into the history, it becomes not-so ordinary. Bizarre, even. The secrets are kept hidden beneath the floorboards of every residents’ mind. And those who know those secrets fear what would happen if they let one slip.

No one speaks of the town outside of the border- it’s like Sealight Avenue doesn’t even exist to some. But for the benefit of everyone, it’s better if we just keep our mouths shut. And for the sake of the entire state, we never spoke of the story about how Blake Gilani suddenly disappeared from the town on a cold, summer’s night. The story is a dark one, and anyone who tries to spread information about it gets punished, in a _terrible_ way.

From an outsider’s perspective, it seemed like the type of town you’d find in the centre of a romantic comedy, but that is _not_ the case, because as you dive deeper and deeper into the town’s history, you begin to see the shadows lurking underneath.

But one secret outshone them all…

The summer had come to a screeching halt, we expected to see the queen bee entering the halls of _Sealight Avenue High_ , but that never happened.

This wasn’t like Blake. She always came to school. Whether it was for cheer practise, studying chemistry or flirting with the football team, she never missed a day of school in her life. So this news had come as a surprise to all.

The case began with what the Gilani sisters did this summer break. On the evening of the twenty sixth of August, the girl in question and her younger sister, Amala, drove to the woodlands for a lovely summer's walk before the school year began again.

When they got out of the car, Amala gave her sister a hug: the last hug she would ever give her. But she didn’t know it would be her last, and neither did Blake.

They were busy tucking into ham and cheese sandwiches on their tartan designed picnic blanket by the water. Out of nowhere, a wave emerged from the body of salty liquid from the lake. It was as if a supernatural force had executed this move, since the river had been rippling smooth waves all day beforehand.

As soon as the wave hit, Blake had vanished. Nowhere to be found.

*****

Our town presented itself as welcoming, homely and overall conventional. Safe, _innocent,_ like nothing occurred here and we were all simply one big happy family. But that’s not the case, I’m afraid.

Amala desperately called out to her sister, crying out her name, doing anything she could to find the sharp, dreamy-eyed beauty.

A group of young boys and girls wearing dark, all leather clothing came upon Amala standing alone by the riverbank in hysterics, trying to catch a signal on her phone. However, they did not approach her, and for a good reason too. They were forced to lurk in the shadows out of fear...

Amala tried endlessly to call her mother, her father, anyone she could, but it was no use. Having no signal at a time like this felt heartbreaking for her, she just wanted to find her sister.

Stranded by the river’s edge, she tried or to come up with the fastest way to leave the horrible nightmare. Too young to drive her sister’s car, she set off running in the direction she had come from.

The thistles and thorns cut at her legs as she sprinted through the woodlands, sticks and twigs digging painfully into her skin. She yelped in pain but kept on running until she came across lights shining onto the path below her.

She studied the surrounding area, searching for anyone she could. After a few moments of looking around, listening to the birds flap their wings in the trees, she spotted the deputy sheriff patrolling the forest.

“Sir! Sir! My sister!” she cried out, trying to regain her raspy gasps, breathing in quickly to calm her rapid heartbeat.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

“My sister- she- she’s gone!” she whimpered through her cries, falling into the arms of the deputy.

After a few minutes of trying to calm herself down, Amala led the sheriff towards where they were having their picnic, but all of their belongings, the blankets, the car, everything had vanished into thin air.

Sheriff Eddie Rennell called for backup and the forensics team to investigate the scene. After hours and hours of searching through the deep and shallow waters and the woodland nearby, they found nothing. They even went as far as to hire a diving team to search the waters while others dragged the river trying to find her.

An emotional Amala was sent home that night, sister-less. Sent back to her parents in hysterics that she had lost her sister. Her mother felt just as emotional as Amala, but something didn’t sit right with the young girl when she told her father…

She was determined to find out why he had been acting so strangely, but that wasn’t the only thing on her mind. Blake, her sister, her best friend had gone missing, but she was determined to find her.

*****

A coffee had been passed to me by the owner of the café as all eyes glued to the screen of the small television hanging from the ceiling.

According to news reports, Blake had disappeared approximately one hour before dusk at the river. But, they still hadn’t found her body. The reporters weren’t giving much information, however, as the witnesses wanted to keep quiet and not cause too much commotion in the town.

What I took from today’s news was that Blake had disappeared from Sealight Avenue at around 5:30pm that evening, vanishing completely with _no_ evidence to point anyone in the right direction of her whereabouts.

*****

From what Amala told the sheriff, it had been a day similar to any other for the Gilani family. They woke at 7 in the morning for some breakfast, which was a plate stacked high with maple syrup drizzled pancakes. 

In the afternoon, at around 1pm, Blake and Amala decided to head out to the ice cream parlour for a little treat. They had their delicious shared raspberry sundae and then walked back home to eat some lunch. Caesar salad mixed with spices and tomatoes.

Their mother allowed them to take a walk to the forest, but she told them to not go _any_ further than the river, and they did as they were told. 

Or so everyone had thought.

Rumours began spreading around the town like wildfire, one in particular stating that Blake’s parents were the ones behind their own daughter’s disappearance. Another stated that they just made up the story for publicity, but if they did make it up, where is Blake? Would they do that? 

Would the most respected family in Sealight Avenue really stoop that low for a publicity stunt?

*****

The town seemed to grow apart even more by the time forensics had actually found something. A lock of hair burned onto a bullet.

Their hearts sank, thinking the worst. And their worst thoughts became a reality…

Sea Avenue’s police dragged the river for Blake’s body, but they never found her. After that, a week later, the Gilani family held a small, secretive funeral for their loved one, with an empty casket and her death was ruled as an accident by the morgue doctor.

Shannon, Blake’s best friend, made a theory that Amala was behind everything as she was the only one there. According to Shannon’s claims, Amala purposely dropped Blake’s phone in the water causing Blake to run into a panic. Jumping into the water to retrieve it and never to be seen again.

As for the rest of the town, we were still trying to process the tragedy that occured on one of the last days of vacation, the twenty sixth of August. 

And a new mystery rolled upon our hands when a mother and daughter moved into town, and into the home beside our favourite girl next door, Hannah Eloise.

The two women entered the home and immediately felt on edge. The property was under a hidden name, a property of the middle-eastern mafia, but it’s all they had for the time being.

Miss Acharya sent her daughter, Priya, to the nearest place serving hot food while she set up everything at home.

The girl caught the eyes of many people on her way to the **_wine and_** **_di_** _n_ ** _e_** restaurant. The ‘n’ had stopped working for some _unknown_ reason so it now said _die_.

The restaurant had been shut down recently, so she decided to head to McRae’s, the other restaurant in town, full of the students from Sealightlight Avenue high mourning the death of Blake Gilani.

At around 1am, the deputy’s son, Gary and his best mate Graham had set out on a walk of the same trail Blake was last seen on. 

The musky fog caused their vision to become worse, so they didn’t see the major piece of evidence beside them. That was until their noses filled with the powerful stench of decomposing flesh.

They stumbled across the black bag surrounded by the foul stench and one bullet-sized hole in it, blood seeping out from the hole. The boys prayed and prayed it was just a deer or a fox or a small animal, but no. Graham called the sheriff's office, and Blake Gilani was pronounced dead upon further inspection.

*****  
  


According to the claims of Amala Gilani, Blake was last seen by the river, but when the boys found her, she was closer to the entrance than anyone had realised.

This had the town already doubting Blake’s _own_ sister. They were so invested in making a seventeen year old out to be behind Blake’s disappearance, but that made me think, would she really do it? Would she have the guts to pull something as severe, off like that?


	2. Priya Acharya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is Priya Acharya? Is she hiding secrets too?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! ❤️❤️

After this week’s news, no one had thought another mystery would enter our lives in the form of a burgundy haired bombshell.

The school bell rang as our first class started. English. Whispers fluttered through the classroom as I entered, with Priya walking in right behind me.

“Oi! Who’s your new girlfriend?” someone called out, but I tried my hardest to ignore them. I was unsuccessful however, as they kept teasing me.

“She’s not my girlfriend!” I shot back, causing the rest of the football team to burst out laughing.

“Sure, bro. You’re too much of a  _ freak _ to have a girlfriend anyway!” Miles hollered.

_ Just because- _

_ Actually, he’s probably right... _

The others burst out laughing as I flipped them off, taking a seat next to Jake, who was  _ surprisingly _ my best friend. Who would’ve thought an outcast obsessed with true crime and murder mysteries would be best friends with a member of the school’s football team?

“Don't mind them, they’re just… they’re just like that. And I’m sorry about them,” he said, taking the English book out of his backpack.

“No no, it’s alright. I’m used to it by now,” I replied, just as our teacher began introducing us to the new student.

I was intrigued, a new face in town just as one of our own had vanished into thin air? Now that’s a good mystery in my books.

Priya Acharya caused heads to  _ turn _ . A new bombshell had entered the school and was already making waves. Especially for Jake, who I’d like to name as the protagonist of this so-called “story”.

Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Barton had been appointed to show the new student around the school, causing the boys on the football team to grow  _ extremely _ jealous of him.

Priya had the boujee, she had the banjie, she had it all. Whispers flew through the halls of girls calling her names because they were jealous of how beautiful she was.

Priya Acharya, daughter of Ariana and Kumar Acharya. The ‘Golden Girl’ of Sealight Avenue. She had already been named the  _ new _ golden girl, even though she had been there less than a week. But that title wasn’t hard to take as Blake had vanished, and this small town wasn’t your average, innocent habitation.

From what I’ve heard about Priya, I took it that she was around 17 or 18 since she’s in the same year as me. She seems like the ‘daddy’s-little-girl’ type, but at the same time that’s stereotyping. She could end up being just like any one of us: I bet she’ll fit right in.

She took a seat next to Hannah and immediately they seemed to get on well. I tore my eyes away from them to find Jake’s gaze glued to Priya.

“Dude!” I nudged him.

He jumped in his seat as I laughed, but then an announcement boomed over the intercom, interrupting my sudden laughter.

_ “Students of Sealight Avenue, for any of you who don’t know, one of our own, Blake Gilani has gone missing. If anyone has  _ **_any_ ** _ information, please head to the Principal’s office immediately! We  _ **_need_ ** _ to find her” _

_ You could have said that in a better way. _

Jake’s face fell. Was he hiding something from me? His  _ best _ friend.

Nervous chatter in the room grew louder and heavier, theories and accusations circulating the room. I even heard someone say they thought Priya was behind it.

I found that bizarre, however, as she had only been here a week or so and already she was made out to be the villain of a case she had no idea about.

“Who’s Blake Gilani?” she asked, causing the horrid whispers to grow louder.

“Head cheerleader. Nicest girl in this school!” I answered, thinking,  _ It would be nice to help her. _

*****

“This year is so important for grades, so extracurricular activities are a  _ must _ . For example, writing poetry!”

_ Poetry? I’m sorry ma’am but I’d rather write ten or more murder mystery novels. _

She turned her back on us and began writing our tasks on the board, but something didn’t seem right. The chalk was scraping extra loud, louder than normal and an eerie feeling drifted into the classroom.

Our professor droned on and on about Othello and Desdemona for the next half an hour, but I kept thinking about Blake and Amala.

*****

We filtered out of the room and crowded around one of the locker areas. I jumped and jumped to try to see what was going on. I even thought about jumping onto someone’s shoulders like they would do in a circus performance, and then I saw it...

Blake’s locker had been covered in notes, hearts and flowers lay on the ground in front of it like a memorial for her. The loss of our head cheerleader has had a major impact on the lives of those closest to her, including her boyfriend.

Even Priya seemed to be affected by the news and she barely knew the girl.

*****

The reason as to why the Acharyas moved is unknown to many, but I dug deep into the family and found out that Priya, or Priyanka as she used to be known, was in fact not an Acharya, but from another family completely.

She was left on the streets by her paternal mother at the age of nine and my sources say that left her experiencing extreme loss and symptoms of PTSD. The Acharyas took her in as one of their own when Ariana, Priya’s mother, couldn’t have children of her own.

Priya’s father apparently owned a prison outside of town and controlled everyone and everything within the prison walls. But not just on the inside. Kumar controls his wife and daughter too, even from where he’s been stationed.

Have I mentioned he works in the navy too? After moving from Mumbai to Sealight Avenue he was appointed as the head sergeant in  _ SLAN _ , or  _ Sealight Avenue Navy _ . This town was named after the company as the founder had lived here most of his life.

I was determined to find out why they moved, but soon enough we’d all find out.

But all of that is in the past and it seemed like Priya wanted to start fresh, but as soon as she made that decision, her plan had crumbled into crystalline particles in her hands. She had moved to the  _ wrong _ town.

*****  
  


From Priya’s accounts, she moved from the suburbs to Sealight Avenue because there was a mass string of crime and acts of violence on the streets in which she had lived causing chaos to erupt on the roads.

She was born on the 7th of August, to her parents whose identities are unknown, in the run-down suburbs of Mumbai, India. When she was seven, she had been told she would be placed into an arranged marriage with a wealthy family when she turned twenty two. Her parents wanted what was best for their daughter, but Priya disagreed heavily.

Priya wanted to get out of her family and her arranged marriage to Amir Cuppoor, a wealthy businessman who worked behind the scenes of dog shows and grooming parlours. Fitting, as Priya thought she would’ve been groomed by him to fit what he liked.

She had heard whisperings of what Amir did behind the scenes with the animals too. But she never wanted to go back to those horrible memories.

Her parents told her that Amir would receive a dowry from them, also known as Priya’s family’s share of the wealth which was going to consist of most of Priya’s personal belongings, including her jewelry and a lot of her other favourite items.

She found a way to escape her misery, however. At the age of nine she took up the hobby of traditional dancing, letting her body flow with the music, setting her mind aflame like the umbers of a fire. 

According to many, the art of dance in India was the expression of inner beauty and the divine in man. It was a deliberate art, nothing left to chance, each gesture seeking to communicate ideas, each facial expression communicating emotions.

Alas, the depths of her story were dark and very heavy to listen to and read about. I felt a crushing amount of sympathy for the poor girl, but I hadn’t even heard half of her story. And I wish I could have taken that sympathy back.

*****

She had befriended Hannah and Ibrahim, so I was brought into her circle too. She seemed to trust us a lot more quickly than I thought she would, and that didn’t sit well with me… at all.


End file.
